Never heard of Devil’s Slide?

    Until last year, it was a 1.3 mile stretch of California Highway 1 between the beach communities of Pacifica and Montara south of San Francisco.  We remember, not fondly, white-knuckle driving, eyes focused only on the road as we headed down this winding narrow road to visit friends. 
     This coastal stretch of road has been slowly falling into the Pacific Ocean since it was built in 1927. Often closed due to rocks and landslides, drivers navigated inland, adding up to an hour of driving time. Finally there is an alternate inland route.  The Tom Lantos Tunnels, opened to Highway 1 traffic in 2013, cutting off the unstable, shoreline section.

      A guide explains about the active tectonic plates and view from the new park.

            Our guide, Wendy, a National Park Service Ranger, pointed out the hole chipped in the concrete back wall of the cell as she explained how prisoners John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris managed to escape from Alcatraz in 1962. It turns out theirs was the only attempt that might have been successful during the three decades Alcatraz served as a maximum security Federal prison. “Might,” because though they managed to get off the island, no trace of them (dead, or alive) has ever been found. One other prisoner did manage to swim to the mainland that same year, but he was so exhausted he collapsed on the rocks and was promptly re-arrested. 

           Alcatraz view and Hornblower Hybrid with wind turbines

We hope to make this our regular broadcast system. Some months ago we learned that significant numbers of Wilsons’ Travels Postcard subscribers were not receiving our travel posts.  It turns out that Comcast and perhaps one or two other internet service providers were blocking our subscriber’s e-mail notifications. This News item is the first test of our new e-mail delivery service that, with luck, will prevent this problem recurring. If you get this notice more than once, we apologize, it just means the test didn’t go off without a glitch. So, to all our subscribers, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, welcome back to Wilsons’ Travels Postcards, and keep on traveling.